Basic Question for the Mechanic Mags

[The Reverend Floater]

So the 22re in my 1985 4runner "Wang" is going out...low compression, drinking oil, etc. It has been rebuilt before and should probably be replaced. So....

How hard is it for a shade tree mechanic to take the old motor out, put the new one in and not fuck it all up? I've done just about everything else besides actually sub a motor--I'm not scared by the intake manifold or removing/resetting the EFI components, etc. But I've also never done this before and am trying to decide if I should do it. On one hand, I know I can do it--the question is can I do it right. This is my reliable Toyota rig we're talking about--I drive it deep into the back country and also use it as my DD, so it's gotta be tits.

Bonus points if you have recommendations on a 22re crate or long block shop. Heard good things about Oregon Engine Builders and am looking for more.

Also, anything else you'd do while you had it out of there? I'm likely going to do the steering box conversion to a Gen 2 steering box, but that's about it on the list. Don't want headers, don't need fancy shit. Just a fresh motor that works and works all of the time.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Also to note, my rig has a T100 trany and transfer case, FWIW

[farmer]

No idea, but I have a chilton guide for either that or the next gen of 4runner (which I no longer own) - if you want it, PM me and I will dig it out, check the year and send it to you.

[Yukonrider]

If it was me, I'd get the motor from a donor truck, then do the swap slowly (read don't try to do it the night before you need to drive to work or something)

I wouldn't hesitate to do it. If you have the tools, and it sounds like you have most of the knowledge, as long as you find an un-molested engine to swap in, it can't be that hard, can it? It is a simple un-install, and bolt in as long as the models are the same.

[The Reverend Floater]

Yeah, Yukon, I hear you. Hard to find donor motors for these trucks, though, and I like the idea of knowing what I'm starting with and an associated warranty.

[hellojello74]

I did a rebuilt long block a while back in my runner, wasn't too hard at all. At the time was biggest thing besides swapping trannies,. Really its pretty straight forward especially if you are not opening it up. I say do ot, bit again have some time say, a weekend to remove, weekend to install and a few days extra in case you break something, ie exhaust bolts. It can be done way faster bit as shade tree it always takes longer or you dont have the roght tools to makeit easier. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Book is helpful as well as some good 4x4 forums

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[knumbskull]

My friend and I pulled and reinstalled his 22re in the street. It took us about a week of work in the evenings after work to pull and about the same to reinstall. After we had reinstalled it and filled it with coolant the coolant poured out of the engine. Turns out he torqued off two bolts on a coolant line neck. And we were using a torque wrench, which I consider mandatory. We had to remove the intake manifold again to fix his blunder. After fixing that it actually cranked right up. But either his oil pressure sender, wiring or gage cluster was bad because we were showing no pressure. That was a scare but after hooking up a mechanical gauge our fears turned out to be unfounded. If you have a garage you are way ahead of us. It is definitely doable. The chilton book was a great resource. Feel free to ask anything. Neither of us had any experience beyond bicycle repair and minor auto maintenance before hand.

[Beaver]

I've got a good friend who has a spare '85 foreskinner that he rolled that he suses for parts. He just got a VW TDI engine that he is going to swap into his truck. He'd probably be willing to part with one or both of his engines. I'll ask him if you're interested.

[MakersTeleMark]

The 22re is a fabulous engine, but if you cant find a donor, why not just drop in a SBC 350 and grab a painless wiring kit and call it good if you can find an adapter for the Tranny/TC?

[Vt-Freeheel]

Between Chilton and Youtube videos[I did not check for vids but anything I need to do on my Ram is covered] you should be golden. If your truck is standard I might change clutch and or throwout bearing and install fresh motor mounts.

[EarlyWood]

DO IT

This advice is based on taking my '93 Suby engine out this summer under the shade tree...did the lesbian dance, moved it indoors, gave it what it needed (clutch ect etc etc etc) ..will drive that thing anywhere now without hesitation....

Like VTF indicates there's a forum and link to a vid with someone doing what you want to do on the net somehwere..

Having an engine hoist on wheels fits in there with "having the right tool" but not totally necessary... I borrowed one.. you could prob rent one...or buy cheap on Craigs then sell

This is not rocket science.. it is however another way to have control over your world ..plus it runs better knowing that you did what you did..

good luck

EW/t07

[Man Jerk]

22RE is a simple swap. I did one and almost had it done in a weekend working by myself. If you are halfway mechanically inclined you won't have any problems. Get all your parts ahead of time, line up an engine stand and an engine hoist. Pull the old motor, pull all your parts off and assemble the new one on the stand. It's nice working on a clean rebuilt motor, just a big erector set.

DO it. Sounds like lots of guys here have pulled and swapped 22RE's, if you have problems just post up.

[stash searcher]

Definitely do it. get the book (we've got the haynes for our 20r- i like it, decent pictures). borrow/rent an engine hoist and torque wrench. depending on the state of your engine bay, you may want to buy a few bolts (or at least give yourself the time to buy bolts) cause some will be gnarly to remove, like exhaust manifold bolts... watching videos is Always helpful. a coworker did a 4runner swap a few years back with an 86 body, now mated with a 95 engine, another friend now owns the 4runner, still going great! i love older toyotas! we just removed, rebuilt, and reinstalled the 20r in our 77 pickup (and added a carb)- what a champ! i love that truck!
rockauto has some cheaper parts, lceperformance has more expensive parts, toyotaminis has info, i know there is Tons of info out there for 22res.

[warthog]

I would do it, but I would get the painless wiring kit for it at the same time. Great time to make sure your wiring is solid. Those painless kits make it so easy.

I just got done upgrading my distributor cap, rotor, and plug wires. You can put an MSD cap for a Ford F150 on a Jeep. Makes it run way better. Anyway, don`t be an idiot like me. I pulled all the wires, and then realized I would have to assemble the cut to fit MSD cables if I wanted to pull back in the garage. Finished at 11 pm, said a prayer that I got the order right, and she fired right up. Unlikely with an engine swap, but make sure you like where she is parked, cause it might be there a while. Nothing worse than a rush job due to poor planning.

Good luck. Worst case, get it all hooked up, and tow it to a good garage to have them check and verify before firing it up. Good insurance, for cheap money.

[Todd Zander]

spray every bolt with penetrating fluid, ie kroil, pb blaster, or gunk NOW and repeat in a couple days.

Expect to replace:
All exhaust hardware from heads to catalytic converter
Heater core hoses
upper/lower and bypass coolant hoses with clamps(might have hoses to the carb/tb)
rubber fuel lines(bulk by the foot)
Acc. belts

Estimate parts and then add several hundred, on top of the extra 2 weeks time. But that's just general old car protocol, nothing specific.

[runethechamp]

1. Get a factory service manual instead of the crappy Chilton

2. Do it. I completely rebuilt my 3VZE (of course I had a machine shop to the machining) and installed it myself. It's still running almost 5 years later.

3. Every bolt and nut you take off go back where they came from right away. No stupid bag of bolts to try to decipher when you put it back together again.

Good luck!

[Jer]

Well, this thread certainly isn't what I thought it was.

[refried]

It's not a hard job, but you may run across a few frozen or rusted exhaust bolts that may take some time to get out. Get a clutch kit, hoses, belts, Ign. wires, spark plugs and some hose clamps before you start because you will end up replacing them. Try to find a copy of the book "How To Keep Your Toyota Pickup Alive", It's much more entertaining than the Chiltons or Haynes manuals and has all the same info. It was published by John Muir publications and written and illustrated like his book "How To Keep Your VW Alive" (a must have for anyone who owns a VW) however it is written by someone else.
I just checked Amazon and they want $125. Plus for the book, I don't know why, here it is free from Wordpress
http://toyotachinook.files.wordpress...ckup-alive.pdf

I was just looking thru my copy of the book and it has nothing about engine replacement but it still is a very good book with lots of info.

[schuss]

For a first timer also - Everything you unhook, label on both the old engine and the disconnection point with the same color/letter. Also - take lots of photos.

[khakis]

Super easy, second the recs to soak everything in pb blaster or kroil for 24 hours before starting (especially exhaust manifold nuts) and do everything on the bench/stand ahead of time, you shouldn't have any trouble slipping the whole thing in with all the accessories bolted on, then just bolt up bellhousing starter and exhaust manifold and hook up wires
I like mtm's suggestion to use the opportunity to swap in a bigger motor, I would go for a tbi 4.3. If you're not interested in that but would like some more power, see if doa is still in business, they are the gods of the 22re. If not try lce engineering, think they are as good but pricier. For just a straight (non performance) rebuilt motor I'd opt instead for a good low mileage (100k) junkyard motor if you can find one. A header will wake that baby up too, I actually have a thorley that a mag gave me years ago for a six pack and shipping I believe, I still haven't used it so will pay it forward if you want it...just lemme know

[refried]

I'd leave the 22re in there, swapping engines costs a lot more than you a lot more than you think it's going to, If you don't mind the lack of power, leave it alone, they last a long time. Here's the 231 (3.8) in my '81

[carvedog]

Good points on the exhaust bolts and stuff. Do your heater hoses, coolant hoses and get a bunch of vacuum line type stuff while you are at it.

And someone mentioned wiring harnesses: those clips suck. Haven't done a Toyo yet but on my Explorer I can't touch any part of the wiring harnesses regardless of how careful without busting the locking legs off of the wiring clips. I use some tiny little zip ties to make sure they hold back together, but what a pain.

And take lots of pics of the way the wires and vacuum lines run around the engine. You think to yourself, I'll be putting these back together in a few days - I got this. Wrong.

And use tons of electrical tape tabs on wiring and elaborate on the tag end of the tape - as in "This wire goes under the big vacuum line going to the power brakes but over the braided stainless fuel line" That kind of stuff can save you hours.

Good luck. I have a torque wrench you could use but I bet you have one. No engine hoist unfortunately. My nephew is a whiz on this shit and works out of Jerome. I am pretty good. He is twice as fast. Been to mech school and paid attention. He might be innarested in a side job if you got in a bind. And would be cheaper than a shop.

[The Reverend Floater]

Thanks for the input, all. I've found a few good suppliers and am going to start pricing out accessories. I want to do this once, not several times, so I'm going to replace a lot of shit in the first go around like the water pump, intake, exhaust manifold, etc. It's going to be titties when I'm done with it. I really love the rig so I don't mind throwing some clams her way. Pic attached.

[MakersTeleMark]

Did you do the SAS?

[khakis]

Sweet rig!

[That was Pontus]

There's nothing really on my 1980 that intimidates me and I'm no mechanic here either (I also snowboard...). I wouldn't hesitate to do a motor swap if I had the cash for a rebuilt. In fact I just popped the head gasket on the 22R in mine so once I dig it out of the snow in the spring I'm gonna throw some love & cash (maybe a 20R head & a Weber to go with the Doug Thorley header & 2.25" exhaust...) her way and do a rebuild of 22R that's in it. I know LCE has a bunch of rebuild kits for a variety of budgets, all are significantly cheaper than a new (rebuilt) motor. But then no warranty, etc... Second the 'How to Keep Your Toyota Alive' book for a lot of stuff. Same with Pirate 4x4 & some of those other forums. Tons of info out there.